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The chancellor cut the top rate of tax to try and stop the 'brain drain'

But the comparison with a sheep was wrong. He proved resolutely unwilling to follow the flock. That was never more crucial than in 1981. Despite the recession, he decided it was essential to cut the deficit to restore confidence.

A total of 364 economists wrote declaring the action “had no basis in economic theory” and would make the recession deeper. He did not flinch. The economy began to recover within weeks of his Budget and grew steadily thereafter.

I got to know him when I was a young Bow Grouper, an organisation for Conservative graduates of which Geoffrey had been an early member and where he had met his wife Elspeth.

With characteristic loyalty he kept in touch, even when serving in Ted Heath’s Cabinet, to help the next generation. He was disillusioned by Heath’s U-turn on economic policy and imposition of a statutory prices and incomes policy.

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When he entered No. 11 in 1979 he was probably the best prepared chancellor to do so

I remember him fulminating that, as Minister for Consumer Affairs, he had to adjudicate on every price increase in the country, even the price of entry to a charitable event in Long Ditton!

He recruited Brian Griffiths and me to help write speeches and policy papers. We tacitly assumed that he was preparing for a possible leadership bid when, inevitably, Ted’s policy foundered.

When Ted did resign and Mrs Thatcher’s success forced a second ballot I urged him to stand. He did so but felt he must honour a commitment to do a speaking tour of the West Country.

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In 1981 he ignored the advice of economists and persisted with his plan to cut the deficit

So I took time off to be his bag carrier and press officer, trying to make an impact from afar. Although Geoffrey trailed Willie Whitelaw, Margaret Thatcher did make him her Shadow Chancellor.

He was much less interested in what office he held than in what policies were pursued. By the 1979 election he was probably the best prepared Chancellor to enter No 11. He had set out a series of controversial policies.

One promised to cut punitive tax rates, arguing that lower rates would raise money and end the brain drain. We decided to “sex it up” by citing the Bay City Rollers as an example of high earners driven overseas.

He became the unlikely hero of teenage girl pop fans: a whole girls’ sixth form in Newcastle wrote thanking him for promising to bring back their heart-throbs... and the brain surgeons, entrepreneurs and scientists the country had lost.

I don’t recall whether the Rollers returned but when as Chancellor he bravely cut all the top tax rates the brain drain did reverse. Another speech promised gradually to remove exchange controls.

Critics claimed this would lead to a run on sterling. In office he abolished them, not gradually but entirely and the pound strengthened. He also realised the need to do something about the nationalised industries; the one “Thatcherite” policy which had not featured ahead of the election.

When officials proved reluctant to work on this he called their bluff by asking me to help draft a speech justifying a radical programme of privatisation. So Geoffrey was pivotal in developing key policies of the Thatcher revolution.

Although they drove them through in tandem the chemistry between them worked less and less well. His chivalry made him reluctant to argue with her forcefully but I found she welcomed robust argument.

Eventually, there was a fateful clash in Cabinet when she berated him and even her most ardent supporters felt she had gone too far. But that was a symptom of a much deeper policy debate over Europe.

His views had moved from “Gaullist”, as we both described ourselves, to much more federalist. As the plans for a single currency emerged their positions became irreconcilable.

And I found myself on her side rather than that of a gentle, kind, thoughtful friend to whom I and this country owe an immense debt.